Isaiah 42:1

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,.... The Targum is, "behold my servant the Messiah;'' and Kimchi on the place says, this is the King Messiah; and so Abarbinel (f) interprets it of him, and other

Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

ISAIAH CHAPTER 42 The person and office of Christ appointed by the Father. . A new song to God for his gospel among the Gentiles, . The idolatry of the heathen, and obstinacy of the Jews, . The prophet, having in the former chapter detected the vanity of idols, by their gross ignorance of future things, and having given one eminent instance of God’ s certain foreknowledge of things to come, in the prediction of the destruction of Babylon, and the deliverance of the Jews out of it by Cyrus, he now addeth another more eminent and remote example of it, and foretelleth the coming of the Messiah, and several great effects or consequences thereof; which he rather doth, because this was the person by whom the idols were to be utterly abolished, as was foretold, , compared with , and as it fell out in the event; this having been observed not only by Christians, but even by the learned heathens, not without astonishment, that at that time when Christ came into the world idols were generally struck dumb, and the oracles ceased. My servant; the person of whom he here speaketh is by some supposed to be Cyrus, and by others Isaiah himself, and by others the people of the Jews. But the most and best interpreters understand this place of Christ. And although I am sensible that some learned men have done wrong to the sacred text, and to the Christian cause, by expounding some places of Christ without sufficient evidence, yet this is one of the many places in this prophecy which cannot without manifest violence be applied to any other; which is so evident, that not only the generality of Christians, but divers of the most learned Jews, understand it of the Messiah, and of him alone; and pass a severe censure upon their brethren that expound it of any other person, and affirm that they are smitten with blindness in this matter. Moreover this place is expressly interpreted of Christ, , &c.; and to him, and to him only, all the particulars here following do truly and evidently belong, as we shall see. Whom I uphold; whom I will assist and enable to do and suffer all those things which belong to his office to do. Mine elect; chosen by me to this great work of mediation and redemption, to which he is said to be sealed and sent, ,29, and predestinated, , and chosen of God, . Delighteth; or, as this same word is oft rendered, is well-pleased, both for himself and for all his people, being fully satisfied with that sacrifice which he shall offer up to me. I have put my Spirit upon him; I have furnished him with that abundance and eminency of gifts and graces which are necessary for the discharge of his high and hard employment. Shall bring forth; shall publish or show, as this word is translated, ; shall bring to light what before was hid in his breast, or in his Father’ s bosom.

Isaiah 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, [in whom] my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.Ver. 1. Behold my servant.] Cyrus partly, but Christ principally A servant he was, yet not menial, but magisterial; that he was one or other is admirable, and well deserveth an Ecce Behold. Whom I uphold.] That he faint not under the weight of his Mediatorship, and the importable burden of my wrath, which he must suffer for a season. Some render it "whom I lean upon." See 2 Kings 5:18; 2 Kings 7:2; 2 Kings 7:13. Mine elect, or choice one.] Cyrus was so. See the notes on Matthew 12:18. Cyrus was so singular a man, saith Herodotus, that no Persian ever held himself worthy to be compared unto him. And of his court Xenophon hath this memorable saying, that though a man should seek or choose blindfold, he could not miss of a good man. How much more truly may this be spoken of the Lord Christ and his people? In whom my soul delighteth.] ευδοκησε. God affected Cyrus, but nothing so well as Christ. Once God repented him that he had made man; but now it is otherwise. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.] Who shall all cry, "Grace, grace unto it," to see mercy rejoicing against judgment. See on Matthew 12:18. Herod., lib. iii. Xenoph. Cyrop., lib. viii.

XLII. (1) Behold my servant . . .—Here the words point not, as before, to the visible, or even the ideal Israel, but to One who is the centre of both, with attributes which are reproduced in His people in the measure of their fulfilment of the ideal. “Elect” is another of the words with which Isaiah has fashioned the theology of Christendom. It meets us there four times (45:4, 65:9, 22), and is echoed and interpreted in the voice from heaven of Mat 3:17. That voice fixed on the human consciousness of the Son of Man that He was “the servant of the Lord,” and throughout His life we trace an ever expanding and conscious reproduction of the chief features of Isaiah’s picture. Disciples like St. Matthew learnt to recognise that likeness even in what might seem to us subordinate details (Matthew 12:17-21). I have put my spirit . . .—An echo from Isaiah 11:2, heard once more in Isaiah 61:1. The promise we note as fulfilled in closest connection with the utterance of the previous words in Matthew 3:16; Luke 3:22; John 1:32-33. He shall bring forth judgment to . . .—The ministry of “the servant,” as extending to the Gentiles, is prominent in 2 Isaiah (Isaiah 49:6-7; Isaiah 52:15). It expands the thought of Isa 2:1-4. There the Temple is the centre from which the knowledge and the “judgment” (used here in the sense of law, or ordinance) flow; here it is from the personal teaching of “the servant.”

CHAPTER XLII The prophet sets forth the meekness of Messiah's character, and the extent and blessings of his kingdom, particularly among the Gentiles, 1-9. In consequence of this he calls on the whole creation to join him in one song of praise to God, 10-12. After which he seems again to glance at the deliverance from the captivity; although the words may full as well apply to the deliverance vouchsafed to the Church; to the overthrow of her must powerful enemies; and to the prevalency of true religion over idolatry and error, 13-17. The prophet then reproves the Jews for their blindness and infidelity in rejecting the Messiah, and gives intimations of these judgments which their guilt would draw on them, 18-25. The prophet, having opened his subject with the preparation for the return from captivity at Babylon, and intimated that a much greater deliverance was covered under the veil of that event, proceeded to vindicate the power of God, as Creator and disposer of all things; and his infinite knowledge, from his prediction of future events, and in particular of that deliverance. He went still farther, and pointed out the instrument by which he should effect the redemption of his people the Jews from slavery; namely, a great conqueror, whom he would call forth from the north and the east to execute his orders. In this chapter he proceeds to the greater deliverance; and at once brings forth into full view, without throwing any veil of allegory over the subject, the Messiah. "Behold my servant, Messiah," says the Chaldee. St. Matthew has applied it directly to Christ; nor can it with any justice or propriety be applied to any other person or character whatever. - L NOTES ON CHAP. XLII Verse 1. Behold my servant, whom I uphold] אתמך בו ethmach bo, on whom I lean. Alluding to the custom of kings leaning on the arm of their most beloved and faithful servant. All, both Jews and Christians, agree, that the seven first verses of this chapter belong to Christ. Now, as they are evidently a continuation of the prophecy in the preceding chapter, that prophecy cannot belong to Cyrus, but to Christ. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles - "He shall publish judgment to the nations"] Four MSS. two ancient, add the conjunction ומשפט vemishpat. See Matthew 12:18. The word משפט mishpat, judgment, like צדקה tsedakah, righteousness, is taken in a great latitude of signification. It means rule, form, order, model, plan; rule of right, or of religion; an ordinance, institution; judicial process, cause, trial, sentence, condemnation, acquittal, deliverance, mercy, &c. It certainly means in this place the law to be published by Messiah, the institution of the Gospel.

1–4. Israel as the Lord’s Servant. The features of the portrait are these: (1) It starts from the thought of ch. Isaiah 41:8 ff., the election by which Israel is constituted the Servant of Jehovah; but this is immediately followed by (2) the equipment of the Servant with the Divine Spirit, and (3) the mission for which he is raised up, viz., to be the organ of the true religion to the world (Isaiah 42:1). (4) The manner and spirit of the Servant’s working are then described; his unobtrusiveness and tenderness (3 f.). (5) His unflinching constancy in the prosecution of his work, and his final and complete success. The whole description is singularly elevated, and impressive; Jehovah speaks of His Servant as He sees him, and as he shall yet be revealed to the world. If the Servant of the Lord here described is Israel, he is obviously not Israel in its actual condition of bondage and inefficiency. He is Israel according to its idea,—the Divine ideal after and towards which Jehovah is fashioning the people. This ideal is personified, and it is the vividness of the personification that leads many readers to think that an individual must be meant. But such impressions are not greatly to be trusted. It is a very hazardous thing to set limits to the possibilities of O.T. personification. The real question is whether the characteristics ascribed to the Servant are capable of being realised by the nation of Israel, or whether they are such as to demand a separate and personal embodiment. Even if it should be found that some details do not readily fall in with the national interpretation it would not at once follow that that interpretation was false; for no one argues that our Lord’s parables must be literally true stories, because they contain features to which no spiritual meaning can be attached. But that consideration need not trouble us in this passage, for it will be seen that all that is here said of the Servant is applicable to Israel in the ideal light in which it is here presented. Certainly no historic individual of that age can possibly be the subject of the picture.

Behold - This word is designed to call attention to the person that is immediately referred to. It is an intimation that the subject is of importance, and should command their regard.

1. Behold my servant — Who is meant? Not Israel, as in Isaiah 41:8, nor the prophet himself, because what is affirmed of this “servant” transcends what any Old Testament prophet was ever called to,